Former President Trump’s primary defense attorney is expected to testify Friday before a federal grand jury in the investigation into Trump’s mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House.
On Wednesday a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court in DC told Evan Corcoran he could not shield himself behind attorney-client privilege to withhold information about communications he had with Trump leading up to the August 8 FBI raid of the former President’s Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, where agents retrieved hundreds of White House documents, more than 100 of which were marked classified.
The panel had rejected a request by the Trump team to stay a ruling last Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, who had ruled on Friday—her last day as the chief judge for the court—that Trump had knowingly and deliberately misled his attorneys about the retention of classified documents after leaving the White House.
The three-judge panel also ordered Corcoran to hand over any materials related to the matter, including handwritten notes, invoices and transcripts of personal audio recordings.
Federal prosecutors have asserted in court proceedings, which are still under seal, that they believe Trump tried to use Corcoran to advance a crime.
Corcoran has already testified before the grand jury, back in January. When questioned then about the lead-up to the August search at Mar-a-Lago he’d declined to answer, prompting the prosecutors to take their battle for his testimony to court.
Along with Corcoran’s interactions with Trump regarding the classified documents, prosecutors also want to ask about a statement Corcoran wrote in June 2022, and that he had instructed another Trump attorney, Christina Bobb, to sign. It asserted that a “dillgent search” of boxes at Mar-a-Lago for classified documents had turned up no additional material.
Bobb did add a caveat before signing the statement: “to the best of my knowledge.”
After the raid, surveillance footage surfaced revealing boxes being moved out of a storage room within Mar-a-Lago, which an employee later stated was done at Trump’s direction.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in his handling of classified documents.
A Trump spokesperson criticized the recent developments, saying, “Prosecutors only attack lawyers when they have no case whatsoever.”
